Ricky Ponting was branded a "cry-baby" last night as Aussies turned on their team for being arrogant, abrasive and poor advocates for sportsmanship.

Despite leading Australia to a record-equalling 16 consecutive Test wins, Ponting even faced calls for his sacking after he fuelled the 'Bollyline' row with India by squealing to the headmaster about banter in the playground.

Ponting claimed he grassed on Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, who allegedly called Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds a "monkey", for the good of the game.

But India's threat to abandon their tour after Harbhajan was handed a three-Test ban has brought Ponting's part in the furore into sharp focus.

And the public backlash in Oz has hardly been the stuff of ticker-tape parades, ordinary cobbers siding with Indian skipper Anil Kumble's observation that "only one team was playing within the spirit of the game".

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said: "We didn't behave like cry babies and go running to the officials every time something was said out in the middle.

"They (Australia) do it constantly and more than anyone else, so how they can complain about the behaviour of other teams, I don't know."

Ponting made sanctimonious claims that he was only obeying orders when he shopped Harbhajan last Friday.

He said: "Over the past two years, match referees have made it very clear at the start of every series that it is the captain's responsibility to report racism either from the crowd or on the field.

"When I heard what had taken place, I informed the umpires and left the field to inform our team manager, which is what we were instructed to do.

"I had nothing to gain from taking this action - I was doing the right thing by the game."

How very subservient. Yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald called for Ponting to be axed, saying Cricket Australia should not tolerate the "arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain".

And in an online poll conducted by another Sydney paper, the Daily Telegraph, 83 per cent of respondents agreed Ponting was not a good ambassador for cricket.

Ponting's predecessor Steve Waugh, king of the sledgers himself, claimed there was a cultural gap and Indians simply did not understand the true intentions of grown men in baggy green caps barking at them.

Waugh claimed: "Teams playing Australia fail to understand the banter, gamesmanship, sledging, or whatever anyone calls it. If Harbhajan did say it, it's both puerile and stupid after he was warned during the one-day series last year.

"Clearly this can be viewed as racist, but many on the subcontinent see it as their way of taking the mickey."

Behind the scenes, the spineless International Cricket Council performed a U-turn by axing umpire Steve Bucknor for the third Test in Perth.

Hours earlier, ICC had insisted Bucknor - under fire from India over a series of dire decisions - would not be replaced.

Chief executive Malcolm Speed denied ICC had caved in to pressure from the powerful Indian board and claimed: "No team has the right to object to an appointment."

Harbhajan has been cleared to play in Perth while he awaits the outcome of his appeal against his three-match ban, but Australia's Brad Hogg faces a disciplinary hearing next Monday over allegations that he verbally abused Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.